Chapter 1554 A Rich Harvest
“Let’s hurry inside!”
The slovenly Taoist gestured to Chen Xuan, inviting him in.
“You want me to be a guinea pig?”
Chen Xuan knew exactly what the slovenly Taoist was thinking.
“What do you mean by that? You think too little of this humble Taoist. How about this, if there are treasures, I’ll give them to you first,” the slovenly Taoist immediately said.
“You said it yourself.”
Chen Xuan hesitated for a moment before agreeing.
He didn’t act rashly, but picked up two stones from the ground and threw them in.
Testing the waters!
The sound of stones landing on the ground echoed from inside, but no other sounds followed.
“It seems safe, let’s go in.”
Chen Xuan ducked inside, followed closely by the slovenly Taoist.
Upon entering, they found themselves in a massive stone chamber.
Gems of unknown kind were embedded in the ceiling, emitting a faint glow that illuminated the entire chamber brightly.
The stone chamber was filled with shelves, all laden with antiques, calligraphy, paintings, jade, and porcelain. Many of these items were things that had long since disappeared from the market.
On another shelf, heaps of gold and silver treasures were piled high.
However, Chen Xuan felt nothing for these precious metals, but the slovenly Taoist’s eyes gleamed.
“It’s all this stuff, how boring,” the slovenly Taoist said, stuffing items into his Qiankun bag.
Chen Xuan was taken aback, “You still have a Qiankun bag?”
After all, he was still holding one of the slovenly Taoist’s Qiankun bags.
The slovenly Taoist said proudly, “How could this humble Taoist only have one Qiankun bag?”
“That’s good, I’ll use your Qiankun bag for a while longer,” Chen Xuan said.
“No!”
“This entire stone chamber is yours, will that do?”
“This… fine, I’ll reluctantly agree.”
The slovenly Taoist thought it through clearly; even if he refused, he probably wouldn’t get his Qiankun bag back, so it was better to accept what he could get.
Soon, the slovenly Taoist had cleared out all the gold, silver, antiques, and jade from the first stone chamber. They then proceeded to the second stone chamber, which was filled entirely with elixirs.
“So many elixirs, we’re rich!” the slovenly Taoist exclaimed joyfully.
Chen Xuan’s pupils also contracted.
He too wanted to examine elixirs refined by other cultivators.
The slovenly Taoist picked up an elixir and shook his head, “Too much time has passed, these elixirs have lost their efficacy.”
“This one can’t be used, and neither can this one!”
“It’s over. If we had come a few years earlier, perhaps, but it’s too late now.”
The slovenly Taoist couldn’t find a single usable elixir; the potency of all of them had severely diminished, rendering them useless.
“Do you want them? If you don’t, I’ll take them all,” Chen Xuan said.
He merely wanted to study them, as he himself could refine elixirs.
“Take them, I don’t want trash.”
The slovenly Taoist hesitated for a moment before choosing to give up. The space in his Qiankun bag was limited, and he wanted to save it for other good items. In his opinion, these discarded elixirs were worthless.
Chen Xuan swept up all the elixirs in the stone chamber and prepared to leave for the third stone chamber. After all, the slovenly Taoist was already heading for the third stone chamber, and if he hoarded any good items, Chen Xuan would be at a great loss.
But at this moment, the World Tree suddenly transmitted, “Don’t go, look at the wall!”
He immediately stopped in his tracks. If even the World Tree was interested, it must be something extraordinary. He glanced over and saw a golden gourd hanging on the wall.
Gourds were usually used to store medicine.
He plucked the gourd, opened it, and gently poured its contents out. A golden elixir rolled into his hand.
However, this originally golden elixir had already turned half gray.
Clearly, this elixir had already lost half of its potency.
Just as Chen Xuan was feeling disappointed, the World Tree spoke again, “This is good stuff, put it away and refine it later.”
“Could this be something valuable?”
Chen Xuan held the elixir in his hand and instantly felt a terrifying power.
Half an elixir possessed such immense power; one could only imagine what the whole elixir would be like!
He quickly put the elixir back into the gourd and then placed the gourd into his Qiankun bag.
He hurried to the third stone chamber and found the shelves empty, with nothing at all. He anxiously slapped his thigh, “Damn it, I’m a step too late, you’ve taken everything!”
This stone chamber was filled with martial arts manuals, the names of each technique written on the shelves.
Although these items were of little use to him, they would be very valuable if sold.
“What nonsense are you talking about? I didn’t take anything. This chamber was empty when I arrived.”
The slovenly Taoist’s expression wasn’t much better than Chen Xuan’s.
“Really?”
Seeing that the slovenly Taoist didn’t seem to be lying, Chen Xuan frowned.
“Do you think this old Taoist would lie to you?” the slovenly Taoist retorted, chest puffed out.
“What a shame, so many martial arts manuals,” Chen Xuan lamented. “They’ve all been taken by someone.”
The slovenly Taoist also sighed regretfully.
“Let’s go, we’ll head to the fourth chamber.”
Soon, they arrived at the fourth stone chamber, which was filled with spirit stones piled high like mountains. However, like the elixirs, much of the spiritual energy had dissipated. Still, a portion remained, which would be good for cultivation.
Chen Xuan and the slovenly Taoist each took half, and both were pleased.
Exiting this chamber, they encountered a bronze door.
The bronze door had no lock, yet it was tightly shut, emitting an unusual aura.
Chen Xuan looked at the bronze door, feeling a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
He had seen it at the bottom of a cave in the forbidden area of Jiangzhou.
Why would there be another stone door here?
“I didn’t expect there to be another gate to hell here! It’s truly incredible!” the slovenly Taoist stared at the bronze door, greatly astonished.
“A gate to hell?” Chen Xuan was taken aback.
“Yes, legend has it that there are a total of eight bronze doors in the world that can lead to hell. I’ve seen one before, and I didn’t expect to see another,” the slovenly Taoist said.
Chen Xuan suddenly asked, “Where did you see it? Was it when you were searching for the elixir of immortality?”
“How did you know?”
The slovenly Taoist stared at Chen Xuan in surprise, not knowing how he knew.
“I guessed,” Chen Xuan replied.
“So that’s how it is. Regardless of whether what you said is true or not, we might have struck gold. We opened a bronze door back then and found the elixir of immortality. If we open this one, we might find something even better, don’t you think?” the slovenly Taoist said excitedly.
“But what if we open this door and enter, and all of us are cursed?”
Chen Xuan’s calmly spoken words caused the slovenly Taoist’s expression to change drastically.
“Who exactly are you?”
The slovenly Taoist knew that all those from the Xuanmen lineage who entered the bronze door had been cursed.
Some believed it was a curse cast by the people who organized that grand operation at the time, while others said it was because they had entered the bronze door that they were cursed. To this day, there was no definitive conclusion.